If I am reading the results correctly, in the precinct where I worked as a poll judge yesterday, turnout was high. We had a ten minute lull of no voters at midday in a day that began when the doors opened at 6:30 and went until the doors were locked at 7:30. None of us had seen anything like this before. People came out to vote. And Ohio had early voting.
Based on my precinct, I’d say the 47% that Romney spoke about turned out in force, as did blue-collar voters. Call that the blue-collar and no-collar vote that pressed Obama’s victory home? There were union buttons and badges very much in evidence. There is a trailer park, a big one, in the precinct and at one point a woman in line turned around and said, “Is all of ———————- Trailer Park here?” This morning an email asked, “Isn’t America rational anymore?” and I think it is, but being rational can be about self-interest. Republicans were asking people to look to the future and that is a very personal prospect for most of us. The issues were clear and the majority voted for a government of dependence.
Do we know this, that we will have at least two more years of the kind of government we have had for the last two? My husband’s favorite comment this morning was that John Boehner now becomes the last statesman of the Western World, the bastion of reason. What Pete says below about the mindset conservatives must adopt in the future has been true. However, given the results of this election, the president will have a Republican House of Representatives, and especially Boehner, to kick around and blame when disastrous presidential policies become — well, disastrous. What is this coalition I keep hearing about?
Republicans are a minority, but not by much. Last numbers I saw show a difference of a about a million votes nationally. That’s what, 1%? That’s not that much, though it is the margin for defeat. Maybe it is a time to snooze and let the politics of the Left create enough problems (as in the late 70s) that America gags on them. I wish I could not look at our politics for the next couple of years. Yet I was never able to snooze when I was hiding my head under the covers. Good luck with that for you, Pete.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
